Writing Center: Starting Research

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Articles+

General Background Information Sources

The libraries have many resources to help students choose and understand their topics. These resources are a starting point where students will find broad information, overviews, or summaries about different topic areas. Students can narrow their topics later by searching in more specialized databases, but may want to start here first.

The perfect place to begin research on current topics. It covers the most current and controversial issues of the day with complete summaries, insight into all sides of the issues, bibliographies and more. Browse through articles in the current issue or search for past articles using words, dates or other criteria.

It covers the most current and controversial issues of the day with complete summaries, insight into all sides of the issues, bibliographies and more. Users may browse through articles in the current issue or search for past articles using words, dates or other criteria. CQ Researcher offers in-depth research on dozens of current events and issues each year. From Adoption to Ozone, each issue gives you: comprehensive review of the controversies, historical background, chronology of important events, opposing views from experts on the subject, and extensive bibliographies for additional research. (Source: vendor website.)

This resource contains full-text articles on current controversial topics in the news. It is intended to give readers a quick grasp of the arguments for each side of the issue. It also contains chronologies, illustrations, maps, tables, sidebars, bibliographies and contact information.

It is intended to give the student and other users a quick grasp of the essentials of more than 250 controversial topics in the news since its debut in September 1995. It also contains chronologies, illustrations, maps, tables, sidebars, bibliographies and contact information.

This resource provides students with a series of essays that present multiple sides of a current issue. Essays provide questions and materials for further thought and study and are accompanied by thousands of supporting articles.

An introductory site for health-related issues. Includes jargon-free information on diseases and conditions, drugs and supplements, and local health resources. Also includes a medical encyclopedia and dictionary.

The online version of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology contains background information on science and technology. For research topic ideas, search from the front page or browse through the news archive under the "News" tab.

AccessScience turns the world's leading science encyclopedia, The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, into an updated database that delivers the high-quality information synonymous with the print publication with the immediacy that only the online environment can provide. Look for these important features in AccessScience: full search capabilities of the 8th edition of the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, new and revised content from the Encyclopedia's editors and contributors, updated regularly, recent research developments, biographies of scientists, late-breaking science and technology news, new references, links to related web sites, learning resources and study guides, added illustrations, and much more. (Source: vendor website.)

Today's Science is a reference database that seeks to bridge the gap between textbooks and what's happening in science today. In a language and format designed specifically for students, it presents the latest scientific discoveries and the fundamental concepts that underlie them. Drawing on major scientific journals, magazines and newspapers in the United States and abroad, Today's Science covers health, the environment, technology, life science, physical science, earth and space science, and science and society. Today's Science presents and enhances the full backfile of Today's Science on File, a permanent record of significant developments in science and technology published monthly since September 1992. Today's Science also offers expanded teacher content, including menu access to articles that match specific National Science Education Standards.

Retrieving Scholarly Articles

To search all of UNC's electronic holdings for journal articles, newspaper articles, e-book content, theses and dissertations, government documents, and more, use our Articles+ search tool. Articles+ searches across all databases with just one click.

If students want more subject-specific resources, scholarly articles are in databases, organized by subject, on the library's E-Research Tools page. Choose a discipline under "By Subject." The list includes subjects such as American Studies, Education, English, Nursing, Public Health, and Social Work, to name a few.

A general resource with popular and scholarly/peer-reviewed articles from many subject areas. Covers the social sciences, humanities, general sciences, multi-cultural studies, education, and more. Limit to scholarly/peer-reviewed by checking the "Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals" check box in the middle of the search page.

Academic Search Premier provides information from a wide range of academic areas including business, social sciences, humanities, general academic, general science, education and multi-cultural topics.

The American Psychological Association's database of research (theoretical and applied) in psychology. Includes research from related disciplines such as medicine, psychiatry, education, social work, law, criminology, social science, and organizational behavior.

It covers the academic research and practice literature in psychology from over 45 countries in more than 25 languages. PsycINFO includes relevant materials from related disciplines such as medicine, psychiatry, education, social work, law, criminology, social science, and organizational behavior. It provides indexes to journals, dissertations, book chapters, books, technical reports, and other documents from 1887 to the present. Many journals are available in full-text.

Provides access to worldwide research in sociology and related disciplines, both theoretical and applied. Covers sociological topics in fields such as anthropology, economics, education, medicine, community development, philosophy, demography, political science, and social psychology.

Approximately 2500 journals in 30 different languages from about 55 countries are scanned for inclusion, covering sociological topics in fields such as anthropology, economics, education, medicine, community development, philosophy, demography, political science, and social psychology. Journals published by sociological associations, groups, faculties, and institutes, and periodicals containing the term 'sociology' in their titles, are abstracted fully, irrespective of language or country of publication. Non-core journals are screened for articles by sociologists and/or articles of immediate interest or relevance to sociologists.

Offers full text and citations of articles from a wide array of journals in the fields of art history, architecture, craft, design, landscape architecture, museology, photography and video, and much more. Scope is international, covering both western and non-western art. Note: Please use the "Exit Program" button when finished with Art Full Text.

Art Full Text indexes and offers full text for a wide array of journals in the fields of art history, architecture, craft, design, landscape architecture, museology, photography and video, and much more. Scope is international, covering both western and non-western art. Three hundred seventy-seven publications are indexed back to 1984, with full text provided to one hundred eleven journals back to 1997. It is updated four times per week, and also includes links to websites cited within articles. Its companion database, Art Index Retrospective, indexes back to 1929. These two databases are a major art and architecture research resource.

It indexes over 400 journals and includes the full text of over 200 journals in these fields. CMMC combines two earlier indexing tools--CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association) and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Penn State). CMMC also offers journals not covered by these two indexes.

Produced by the Modern Language Association, this is a good resource for literary criticism, linguistics, folklore and cultural studies. Gives citations for articles in literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore from several thousand journals and series published worldwide.

MLA International Bibliography is produced by the Modern Language Association. Index to articles in literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore from several thousand journals and series published worldwide. Also covers relevant monographs, working papers, proceedings, and bibliographies.

With this resource, students can search two history databases, America, History & Life (focus on United States and Canada) and Historical Abstracts (world history, excluding the United States and Canada) at the same time, or choose to search separately.

America History and Life, is an index for North American history consisting of journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations & book reviews. Published since 1964, the database comprises over 600,000 bibliographic entries. Historical Abstracts, covers the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada). Published since 1955, it contains annotated references to information on topics from the Renaissance to Tiananmen Square; nearly 800,000 entries in all.